


Tattoos

by aurorasquad312



Category: The Illuminae Files - Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff
Genre: Book 2: Gemina, F/M, Fluff, Gemina, Illuminae, Kissing, Love, Love Confessions, Momento, Obsidio, Post-Canon, Tattoos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-21
Updated: 2020-10-21
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:08:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27140194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aurorasquad312/pseuds/aurorasquad312
Summary: Nik has been hiding things from Hanna, but she knows something is up.
Relationships: Hanna Donnelly/Nik Malikov
Comments: 7
Kudos: 5





	Tattoos

He is always covering up his chest and most of his arms. Hanna has noticed Nik seemed to be hiding his torso from her. Even after all this time, after all they went through on Heimdall and in the battle for Karenza. Even after this last month they have spent in New Petersberg, when she stays overnight he is always in a t-shirt with three quarter sleeves and when he comes out of the shower his shirt is always already on. He always comes across so sure of himself, so cocky, sometimes to the point that Hanna seriously considers punching him. One night, they are just lying in bed, Hanna is sitting between Niks legs with her head resting on his chest. She can feel his chin resting on the top of her head and his slow even breaths move the baby hairs near her forehead. He has his arms draped around her and she is tracing her finger over the tip of his knife tattoo and then it clicks. He is hiding his tattoos from her. Nik notices the sudden shift in her body and asks “Hanna, are you okay?” moving his head from her head to her shoulder so she can turn and look at him. “Nik?” “Yes, Highness?” he says with a smile, “Nik, are you trying to hide your tattoos from me?” Now it's Nik’s turn to stiffen up. “How did you know?” he asks her quietly. “I have never seen you without your shirt on and you are always trying to hide your arms under the three quarter length sleeves. Nick I don’t understand, I know you have House of Knives tattoos, I see the angel on your neck everyday, and I can see the tip of your knife tattoo?”

Nik exhales a long breath before he makes a reply. He knew this conversation was coming but he hoped it wouldn't be this soon. He wanted more time, time to prove himself, and just as much time with her as he could. “I don’t even know how to say this without sounding totally stupid but, I am still worried you are gonna change your mind about me.” Hanna tries to exclaim but Nik stops her but she has turned around in his lap to face him. He looks down and takes her hand. “I never thought that my life would ever amount to much, my whole family is in the House, my life had been set out to be like them, to be a criminal, no matter how much I felt like that wasn’t me. I ended up in prison at fifteen years old, and in those three years in slam, I knew this was going to be my life. Then Erik…. when he left us, I knew this life had taken him from me, I knew I couldn’t escape from it but I could at least get away from the worst. Drug dealing on Heimdall was nothing compared to what I could have been doing and I also met you, true it wasn’t love at first sight, at least for you, spraining my arm like that.” “umm I think you mean breaking your arm!” Hanna interjects. “ The jury is still out on that one” Nik sniggers. “Anyway, everything happened on Heimdall and then the battle at Karenza and finally the BeiTech trial, I felt like a different person, like I had a purpose, like I could be the hero and not the villain. But you can’t run away from your past, especially not when it’s inked across your body for everyone to see.” His eyes seem glassy and he dips his head trying to compose himself and not wanting Hanna to see him like this. She runs her thumbs over the back of his hand reassuringly, she knows she needs to let him finish before she speaks. He looks back up at her “I am not the guy you are supposed to be with, you are Hanna Donnelly, the Commander’s daughter, you are supposed to be with a junior officer of impeccable training and character, someone your dad would have been proud enough to call his son. I am none of those things! Christ, if your dad could see you right now with me, he would probably shoot me on sight. I thought if I could hide my tattoos, the reminders of who I am, I could keep you just a little longer before you came to your senses and realised what a fuck up I really am.”

There is silence then as Nik returns his eyes to their hands to avoid looking at her face. He can't bear to look at her. He is scared of what he might see, what she might have realised about him and all his worst nightmares will come true, he will lose her right here and now. “Oh Nik” Hanna breathes out into the silence “You don’t get it do you, I love you!” Nik looks up quickly, looking into her eyes with surprise. “ Ilove you. It hurts to even be apart from you for too long. I don’t care about the House of Knives and they are not who you are anymore. You will always be my hero, and you are a hero to every life we saved on Kerenza and every life we saved by taking down Beitech. I don’t care if you have five million tattoos under there” She pokes his chest hard with her finger, he winces slightly and rubs the spot she poked. “As I told you before the battle, you are my one Nik! My One and I love you so much and nothing will change that!”

He is beaming at her and a huge relief has been lifted off his shoulders at her declaration. “I love you too” he exclaims as he grabs her face in both his hands and pulls her into him. She doesn’t need any more persuasion and she suges up into his embrace, their lips meeting in the most passionate kiss they have shared since their goodbye kiss on the Mao. Her hands tangle through his dark hair at the nape of his neck as he caresses her waist and presses one of his hands into the small of her back, bringing her even closer into their embrace. The energy between them is unfathomable, untouchable and indescribable. Only a combination of shared loss, fear, strength, bravery and love can forge the kind of bond they share in their hearts. They finally part, their bodies screaming for the oxygen that they denied it during their entanglement. They rest on each other's foreheads breathing hard. Hanna moves her head to rest on his shoulder enjoying being in his embrace. 

After a moment of just being in each other's embrace, she sits upright and states “Right, now that's sorted, off it comes” Nik looks at her puzzled for a moment. “Your shirt” She replies simply “Do you know how long I have waited to see your goddamn body, it's almost a crime! And if I have to listen to Kady describe Ezra’s abs one more time without my own viewings to dish on I will be kicked out of the girl’s night” Nik smirks then stammers “Wait, Ella comes to those girls nights!! Why are you discussing that kinda stuff!!” Hanna laughs so hard she has to grab her stomach as it behinds to ache “OH MY GOD, you have no idea, she is the worst! Also Nik she is sixteen now!! What do you think her brain is occupied with! Let me answer that for you…. BOYS!” Nik looks at her in slight horror and then begins to laugh. 

“So Nik…” Hanna gestures at his shirt with a raised eyebrow. “Fine,” he says. He grabs the hem of his shirt and lifts the shirt over his head. Hanna’s jaw hits the floor, he is perfect! He has nicely toned arms which she could feel under his shirt but to see them is another thing entirely. They are muscular enough that you can see the definition as he moves them but not too big that they are out of proportion with his body. Her eyes then scan over his chest and his lower torso. Oh god, he has those V lines that lead down below is trousers and his abs are to die for. All those sit ups did make a difference, she will never make fun of him again! She wants to reach out and touch but she waits wanting to take in the rest of what is there. Now she focuses on the tattoos. What Hanna had thought was a single knife on his arm is actually a full collection that runs up to his shoulder. She knows that this means he was a fully fledged member of the House. Her eyes scan to the Angel at his throat, the story behind it she knows all too well, the pain and sacrifice that it has come to represent. She moves down to his torso where there is a single chain around his middle. This time she uses her finger to trace over it. Nik shivers at her touch, he lets out a breath he didn't realise he had been holding all this time. She knows this tattoo represents the years he spent in prison.  
Then Hanna notices something else. This tattoo looks newer than the other ones, like only weeks old with the boldness of the black against his skin and the hint of some mild irritation still visible. She takes in the image, it's a setting of flowers with a crown over one of the petals. It is placed right over where his heart would be. She doesn’t know the meaning of this tattoo. She looks up at Nik with the question on her lips. He replies before she speaks “It's not a House tattoo. This one is just for me” She looks at it again trying to decipher its meaning to Nik, flowers and a crown over his heart, flowers and a crown, flowers and…

She looks at the flowers again and she realises they are Jasmine flowers! The crown, his nickname for her has always been Highness and it is over his heart. Her eyes well with tears and she feels his hand lift her head to look at him. “It's you, Hanna. It's you, always. This is forever!” 

She leans up and kisses him, slowly this time, deliberately. Trying to convey how she feels about him in her actions. There are no words for how she feels, no series of words joined together in a particular order that could ever describe how she feels for him. When they part, they simply smile at each other and they lay down next to each other, all their limbs intertwining. Hanna has her head over his tattoo for her and listens to his heartbeat. “I love you” he whispers into the silence. “I love you too Nik, always.”


End file.
